The Yellow Note
by Fyyrrose
Summary: [Challenge fic] Echizen receives a mysterious yellow letter in his locker.


Title: The Yellow Note

Author: Fyyrrose

Rating: K+ -.-;

Summary: Ryoma receives a mysterious yellow letter in his locker

Disclaimer: Why would I want to own PoT? I mean it would be a different story if they were all mine and chained up in my love chamber…but alas they are still safe and alive. And I don't own the song that inspired this.

Song: Sarah McLaughlin's Ice Cream

Notes: Yeah this is the product of a dream right before I fell into a deep sleep. Listening to the song before you fall asleep is never a good thing. This might be a little OOC but just go with it. The challenge was to allow our media player to select five songs in random orderand we had to write a story using a song as "inspiration".

* * *

Ryoma opened his locker door and stared at the yellow piece of paper sitting on his shoes. His eyes slanted a little as he thought up possibilities of what could be written on the yellow parchment. He was relieved that it wasn't pink. Pink was the worst color in the world. It meant one thing: a love letter. More specifically, it would be a love letter written by a female.

He almost shuddered at the thought of being with a female. They were pretty, and some were even easy on the eyes, but he didn't fancy them in that way. Besides what would Momoshiro say if he found out that he liked girls? He shook his head, clearing his line of thinking.

Closing his locker door he leaned against the cold hard metal. He wasn't usually this cautious or jumpy, but he made sure no one was looking before he opened the piece of paper.

Taking a deep breath and preparing for the worst he opened the folded note. His eyes read the contents of the letter. He had to reread the contents of the letter several times to make sure he was reading the same thing that was written on it.

He shifted his weight to his left foot and reread the note one last time. His head was swimming. It had to have been a practical joke of some kind, right? But then who hated him that much to try and mess up his head? He glared at the black inked words that mocked and taunted his sanity.

He looked about, his eyes slanted to predatory-like slits. Whoever thought this was a funny prank would have something coming to them. He tilted his head back so it banged lightly against the metal. He gave a sadistic smirk. He wasn't about to let this person get to him.

Instead, he tried to figure out who wrote the letter. It wasn't Momoshiro's handwriting, and it wasn't from anyone in his class. So that left everyone minus his class and minus Momoshiro. Then again anyone from off the streets could have come in and placed it.

He crumpled the note with his left hand and tossed it to his right and back. He wasn't an expert at analyzing handwriting, but he did know a thing or two about English. That clue in itself eliminated over ¾ of the school's populace.

The style of the writing was definitely that of self-assurance. With that clue, most of the girls in his school were eliminated. Plus, the writing was too masculine. Sure, females could write like that, but then it gave justification that they wouldn't be interested in him.

For some strange reason he got a feeling of dejavu. It took him a couple of seconds to realize where this feel came from. He had played a game similar to this when he was still living in the States. You could only ask questions, and you had to figure out who was on the other side. Sadly, he forgot the name of the game long ago.

He liked games, but not when the brunt of the joke was at his expense. Someone was playing a very dangerous game. He had a feeling it would do nothing but backfire. He couldn't wait.

"Yo Echizen!"

Ryoma turned his head and saw Momoshiro standing there, waiting for him. Quickly, he shoved the paper in his pocket. He had practice today. He had practice everyday. This didn't bother him. It was an excuse not to go home right after school.

Plus, this gave him some extra time to think. However, thinking about the letter flew out of his mind when Inui produced another vile concoction and threatened the team. He refused to fail. He refused to drink the liquid that looked like something his father puked up after a wild night and some expired food.

So the letter remained forgotten until later that night when he sat down on his bed. The yellow piece of paper was aggravating his self-control. He did the only thing he knew: he threw it out. For Ryoma, the problem was solved.

He curled up with his cat and fell asleep an hour or so later. He forgot all about the yellow note that irked him from the day before. The next day, he opened his locker at the end of the school day and slammed it shut again.

This was starting to get tiresome. He hated cowards and this person—actually it's been deducted to a guy—was getting on his nerves. He opened the locker like nothing ever happened and took the note from off his shoes. His shoes looked like they had been taken out and placed back in his locker. He wondered if the person who placed this letter had a fetish for feet. Did the guy like to try on the shoes or just smell them?

Even thinking about the safest answer caused his skin to crawl.

He opened the yellow piece of paper and read it. No, this had to be a joke right? Besides, how would they know that? It wasn't he knew the perso—what if he did? What if the person was right beside him the whole time and he never saw.

That wasn't possible, was it? Ryoma scratched his cheek and smirked. This person would have to be able to walk on water to get through. First the person would have to get through Momoshiro. The guy was sweet, but he was a tad on the possessive side. Then there was Tezuka. He would demand to know about the person that was taking all Echizen's time away from tennis…not to mention the whole team. And of course there was Inui. He would probably make the poor person drink an entire container of Inui juice to prove his love.

And that was just the first line. Then there was his father. No one ever got past him. It would be interesting to see how this played out.

He stuffed the yellow note again in his pocket and went towards the tennis courts. Again, the note was forgotten during practice.

Practice was over and everyone was still around. Echizen walked into the clubroom not expecting to see anything out of the norm. Everyone was still here and gathered around his stuff. He wondered what they were doing. Eiji was the first to approach him.

"So chibi-chan what do you think?" The acrobatic tennis player's question confused Ryoma.

"Think about what?"

Eiji simply smiled sweetly, a little too sweetly. He knew something was up, but what he didn't know yet.

"The letters of course." Ryoma shifted his gaze to Fuji who was holding the yellow piece of paper that was stuffed in his pocket. That meant Fuji went in and searched through his belongings.

"What about it?" Ryoma asked keeping his never fading coldness.

Fuji smiled. "Would you like to or not? I came for the answer."

Ryoma was thoroughly confused now. The note was pretty straight forward, but there was no question attached to it. Oishi, who was standing off to the side looking a little hurt and betrayed, silently hurried out of the room. Ryoma took note, but didn't say anything.

"Have you read the letters?" Echizen asked curiously with an underlying touch of his cynicism.

"Naturally. I wrote the letters." Fuji stated.

Talk about the wrong time to walk into a conversation. The rest of the team entered the club when Fuji made his declaration.

It was a shocker. Wrong ideas filled everyone's head; especially Momoshiro who was brimming with rage and some indescribable emotion. Ryoma cocked his eyebrow towards the upperclassman.

This was a surprise. He would have never thought…

After a moment of tension Ryoma asked, "Do you realize what you wrote?"

Fuji smiled lightening up his face, "Naturally. The first letter asked if you wanted to go for some ice cream, and since you never responded, I decided to try and convince you with chocolate."

Ryoma's mouth almost dropped. Only his habitual pose kept him from doing so. Instead he adjusted and lowered the baseball cap. "That's not what you wrote."

Ryoma looked out of the corner of his right eye only to see a smug smirk on Tezuka's face. He also caught a glance of Momoshiro who almost looked ready to kill. Kaidoh was sitting on the bench tying his shoelaces and hissing.

This was a comical scene. Now if only he wasn't the center star; then he could enjoy this.

"Then what was written?" Eiji asked, clearly curious to see Fuji's fatal error.

Ryoma lifted the beak of his cap to stare into the senior's eyes. "The first letter said 'your love is better than ice cream'. The second one said 'your love is better than chocolate'."

Eiji submitted to a laughing fit, and Fuji's eyes narrowed as he reread the error of his English translation. Instead of becoming embarrassed or ashamed over his extreme error, he simply handed back the note to Echizen before turning to leave.

"On second thought I think this translation is better." The group collectively held their breath. "Besides, the notes weren't from me; I was doing a favor for my brother."

The room's tension was severed and the air was breathable again. Fuji was the first to leave followed by Tezuka, who trailed behind him. Soon only Ryoma and Momoshiro were left.

"I'm glad that's over." Momoshiro stood behind Echizen and wrapped his arms around him. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

Echizen slipped from his grasp and stared at him for a few moments before settling his tennis racket over his shoulder. "Mada mada dane." He smirked and left leaving Momoshiro feeling a little insecure.

This was written because of the cute song, but I decided to show how easy it is to confuse words when translating. The poor English language has double, even triple meaning to almost everything we write. I hope you all enjoyed.


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